Modern communication networks made up of communication systems comprise central or distributed databases in which the subscribers connected to the communication networks have been recorded. For each subscriber, the databases contain a data record in which the subscriber-specific information has been stored in fields, that is to say at specific positions in the data record. The fields may also be referred to as elements of the data records.
In telecommunication systems, often also referred to as telecommunication installations, this information comprises at least the telephone number of the subscriber, in addition to the statement indicating the physical access unit, the “location”. In addition, it regularly also includes further identifiers, for example the name of the subscriber, his department name, statements about his authorization to make outside and international calls and the like. In this case, the subscribers in telecommunication networks, which are formed from at least one telecommunication system, are often associated with groups. Each subscriber may be a member of one group or else of a plurality of groups. One known example is the call acceptance group, in which incoming calls which are not answered by the called subscriber within a predetermined time can be taken by the other members of this group. A similar example is the multiaddress call service feature, in which a workgroup is additionally assigned a group telephone number which, when dialed, involves the call being routed to all of the telephones of the group members and thus being able to be taken by any group member. The subscribers in a boss/secretary relationship, where incoming calls for the boss are also signaled on the secretary's telephone, are also a small group. Finally, the “closed user group”, in which only calls within this group can be connected, is also a group in the aforementioned sense.
The association with one or more groups is set in the telecommunication systems to which the subscribers are connected. This is usually also recorded in the data records.
The printed document U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,619 “Regional Centrex” shows a method, called “Regional Centrex”, in which closed user groups are formed in a public communication network having a plurality of communication installations and beyond the boundaries of a single communication installation. To this end, each of the communication installations connected to the method manages a database (“Centrex File”) which lists all those local users for whom the Centrex method is intended to apply and who are registered on the respective local communication installation in question. The respective local databases in the individual communication installations are managed from a central site using commands (“Operation and Maintenance Command”). In this case, various commands for creating a data record, erasing a data record, creating a group, removing a group etc. are provided.
The group association in communication systems which are in the form of e-mail systems for interchanging electronic mail has special features. In the e-mail systems, data records containing the identifiers relating to the subscribers may likewise be stored in a database. These data records then also have various fields, at least one of which contains the subscriber's e-mail address. Further fields in the data records may contain, by way of example, the subscriber's name, an organization unit, a site or building information item, the telephone number and fax number and the like. In the e-mail systems too, subscribers can be combined to produce groups. One known example of this is “distribution lists”, where the addressee specified for sending a message is the name of a list, and each subscriber recorded in this list receives a copy of this message. A subscriber's association with such a list can be recorded in the data record, or alternatively there may be a separate list in which the subscribers to be addressed using this list are recorded. The group association in e-mail systems thus does not imperatively need to be noted in the data records, but rather is frequently stored in a separate list in which all of the subscribers to be addressed using this list are recorded.
In communication systems and communication networks, particularly those having a large number of subscribers and/or a number of subscribers which changes frequently over time, it has been found to be disadvantageous that the grouping of subscribers entails a high level of complexity which regularly needs to be achieved manually. In communication networks, which comprise a plurality of communication systems, it is frequently necessary to alter a large number of data records or lists in what is often a plurality of databases in order to create or change group relationships.